Basic turbulence studies on TORPEX and challenges in the theory-experiment comparison
- Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas, Association Euratom-Confederation Suisse, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne (Switzerland)
TORPEX [A. Fasoli, B. Labit, M. McGrath, S. H. Mueller, M. Podesta, and F. M. Poli, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 48, 119 (2003)] is dedicated to the study of electrostatic instabilities, turbulence, and transport. Plasmas are produced by waves in the electron cyclotron frequency range and are confined by a toroidal magnetic field of about 0.1 T to which a small vertical component B{sub z} is added. The crucial role of B{sub z} for the basic confinement scheme through the generation of parallel flows has been studied previously. This paper focuses on the effects of B{sub z} on turbulence. The observed strong dependence indicates an intrinsic coupling between average profiles, confinement, and turbulence regulated by the action of B{sub z}. Two approaches to characterize turbulence are adopted, via time series statistics and via the direct measurement of spatiotemporal structures, made possible by the novel hexagonal turbulence imaging probe diagnostic, which is described in detail. Analysis methods to condense the large amount of data of such imaging diagnostics are proposed.
- OSTI ID:
- 20764506
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 12, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2034367; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Experimental characterization of drift-interchange instabilities in a simple toroidal plasma
Fast visible imaging of turbulent plasma in TORPEX